1957 Western Electric Issue

[bad57]

I'm building my Man Cave and wanted a vintage dial phone to go with the 1966 era home that I've restored. My brother gave me a 1957 Western Electric 554 wall phone that he pulled off the wall of an old hardware store.
The phone rings and you can answer it ok but I've only been able to get it to dial out twice and both times it didn't dial correctly. It seams to dial the wrong number when it does work but now you only hear the dial tone when dialing. I wouldn't think that it was miss wired or I wouldn't have got it to dial at all. Is there something that I should be looking for or is their someone in the Baltimore MD area that can fix it? I really want to get this phone to work. I have a slim line in my kitchen and this rotary phone fits rite in with the 60s corner in the man cave. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Phonesrfun]

First of all, who is your phone provider?  If it is an internet Voip provider, you may have issues with any rotary phone.  If not, you might need to send your phone to Steve Hilsz in AZ for adjustments.  It's generally not a do it yourself procedure if you are not familiar with the mechanics of the dial.

[WesternElectricBen]

First of all, who is your phone provider?  If it is an internet Voip provider, you may have issues with any rotary phone.  If not, you might need to send your phone to Steve Hilsz in AZ for adjustments.  It's generally not a do it yourself procedure if you are not familiar with the mechanics of the dial.

Isn't what he is describing it won't break dial tone when the phone has incorrect polarity?

[TelePlay]

Here's the forum link to Steve Hilsz, if you go that route.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4384.0

A sluggish, sticky dial could have opening and closing contact problems and may not be returning at the standard 10 PPS causing the provider you use to get the number dialed wrong. Could be a lot of things but a sluggish/sticking dial is easily repaired for cheap by Steve.

Here is a quick link to Steve's site: http://www.navysalvage.com/

[bad57]

First of all, who is your phone provider?  If it is an internet Voip provider, you may have issues with any rotary phone.  If not, you might need to send your phone to Steve Hilsz in AZ for adjustments.  It's generally not a do it yourself procedure if you are not familiar with the mechanics of the dial.

. 

I have Verizon Fios. I might have thought that was an issue if it wasn't hit and miss dialing. It never breaks dial tone 99% of the time when trying to dial.

[poplar1]

First of all, who is your phone provider?  If it is an internet Voip provider, you may have issues with any rotary phone.  If not, you might need to send your phone to Steve Hilsz in AZ for adjustments.  It's generally not a do it yourself procedure if you are not familiar with the mechanics of the dial.

Isn't what he is describing it won't break dial tone when the phone has incorrect polarity?

Polarity doesn't matter on a rotary phone.

[WesternElectricBen]

First of all, who is your phone provider?  If it is an internet Voip provider, you may have issues with any rotary phone.  If not, you might need to send your phone to Steve Hilsz in AZ for adjustments.  It's generally not a do it yourself procedure if you are not familiar with the mechanics of the dial.

Isn't what he is describing it won't break dial tone when the phone has incorrect polarity?

Polarity doesn't matter on a rotary phone.

Oh.. ok, never mind then.

[poplar1]

First of all, who is your phone provider?  If it is an internet Voip provider, you may have issues with any rotary phone.  If not, you might need to send your phone to Steve Hilsz in AZ for adjustments.  It's generally not a do it yourself procedure if you are not familiar with the mechanics of the dial.

. 

I have Verizon Fios. I might have thought that was an issue if it wasn't hit and miss dialing. It never breaks dial tone 99% of the time when trying to dial.

If you have a stop watch on your cell phone, the dial should take 1.0 seconds to return from 0, 0.7 seconds from 7, 0.3 seconds from 3, 0.1 from 1. Doesn't have to be exact, but close.

[Phonesrfun]

I have Verizon Fios. I might have thought that was an issue if it wasn't hit and miss dialing. It never breaks dial tone 99% of the time when trying to dial.

My money is on Verizon's Fios as the issue, even though it occasionally breaks dial tone.  We have many questions here revolving around this issue and it is usually the Voip-based providers that are the issue.   The problem is that the nerds that designed the Analog Terminal Adapters (ATA's) did not design them for old phones.  Old phones have inductive and capacitive elements that make for irregular wave forms, and not a pure square wave when dialing, and they just can't deal with them.  Purely from my own recollections, it seems that Verzon's FIOS is one of the worst.

That being said, the phone you have could be faulty and not the fault of FIOS.  There are a couple easy ways to find out.  One way would be to get another rotary dial phone and hook it up and see how it does.  Second, would be to take your rotary dial phone to someone's house who has a legacy phone company-provided line and see how it does there.

One more thing to check....When using a rotary dial phone, no other phones in the house can be off-hook when you are dialing, otherwise the dial tone will not be broken.  This usually goes without saying, but we have seen some that are so unfamiliar with rotary dials, they thought they acted just like touch-tone.

[bad57]

First of all, who is your phone provider?  If it is an internet Voip provider, you may have issues with any rotary phone.  If not, you might need to send your phone to Steve Hilsz in AZ for adjustments.  It's generally not a do it yourself procedure if you are not familiar with the mechanics of the dial.

. 

I have Verizon Fios. I might have thought that was an issue if it wasn't hit and miss dialing. It never breaks dial tone 99% of the time when trying to dial.

If you have a stop watch on your cell phone, the dial should take 1.0 seconds to return from 0, 0.7 seconds from 7, 0.3 seconds from 3, 0.1 from 1. Doesn't have to be exact, but close.

Thanks Ill check that tomorrow.

[bad57]

I have Verizon Fios. I might have thought that was an issue if it wasn't hit and miss dialing. It never breaks dial tone 99% of the time when trying to dial.

My money is on Verizon's Fios as the issue, even though it occasionally breaks dial tone.  We have many questions here revolving around this issue and it is usually the Voip-based providers that are the issue.   The problem is that the nerds that designed the Analog Terminal Adapters (ATA's) did not design them for old phones.  Old phones have inductive and capacitive elements that make for irregular wave forms, and not a pure square wave when dialing, and they just can't deal with them.  Purely from my own
recollections, it seems that Verzon's FIOS is one of the worst.

That being said, the phone you have could be faulty and not the fault of FIOS.  There are a couple easy ways to find out.  One way would be to get another rotary dial phone and hook it up and see how it does.  Second, would be to take your rotary dial phone to someone's house who has a legacy phone company-provided line and see how it does there.

One more thing to check....When using a rotary dial phone, no other phones in the house can be off-hook when you are dialing, otherwise the dial tone will not be broken.  This usually goes without saying, but we have seen some that are so unfamiliar with rotary dials, they thought they acted just like touch-tone.

I just found the below.

http://www.marco.org/2010/12/14/rotary-fios

[Phonesrfun]

What can I say, other than try swapping phones.